Amazon....on the move in the grocery business!



Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a new supermarket prototype that relies more on technology than human workers — a controversial, job-killing business model that CEO Jeff Bezos had dismissed as nutty three years ago.

The 10,400-square-foot “Amazon Go Grocery” store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood uses cameras and sensors to detect which products customers pick off the shelves, allowing shoppers to pay for a bagful of groceries without the help of a cashier.

The new store has five times as much shopping space as the Amazon Go stores that first opened in January 2018, which are typically around 2,000 square feet.

The Post first reported in February 2017 that Amazon was developing a “supermarket-sized version” of its Amazon Go shops.

The story, citing sources, said the two-story concept would have robots grabbing and bagging goods on the top floor while shoppers picked up items such as produce, meats and booze on the ground floor. At the time, insiders said Amazon was aiming to open stores that could operate with between three and 10 employees.

Bezos had lashed out at The Post’s story in a rare Twitter post, saying the paper’s sources had “mixed up their meds!”

On Tuesday, an Amazon spokesman tried to explain Bezos’s denial by saying the new store will have “dozens” of employees to help stock shelves and answer shoppers’ questions.

“It’s both incorrect and misleading to suggest that Amazon destroys jobs – the fact is that no other U.S.-based company has created more jobs than Amazon,” the company said in a statement. “In the U.S. alone, Amazon has created over 500,000 jobs for people with all types of experience, education, and skill levels. Amazon jobs – including at Go stores – come with great compensation and benefits, including our $15 minimum wage that is more than twice the national minimum wage.”

Nevertheless, the new prototype raised hackles from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which cast it as part of a business strategy “designed to destroy millions of grocery worker jobs.”

“At a time when millions of Americans are already struggling, when most Americans are one paycheck away from disaster, what does it say that Bezos wants to create stores that serve food and groceries and eliminate the jobs real people need,” union President Marc Perrone said in a statement.

A 10,000- to 20,000-square-foot supermarket typically employs between 60 and 70 workers, according to David Marcotte, senior vice president at Kantar Consulting.

Amazon’s new, high-tech supermarket in Seattle is just about a mile from the company’s corporate headquarters. After scanning a code from the Amazon Go app at the entrance, shoppers will be able to pick up veggies, meats, bread and other grocery staples and walk out before the app charges their credit cards and sends a receipt.

“It is now obvious that Jeff Bezos made an error in Tweeting his ‘off their meds’ response to the Robot Store story in the New York Post,” said Brittain Ladd, a former Amazon executive and supply-chain consultant. “Amazon will leverage technology wherever possible to increase the customer experience and reduce costs.”

At the time, sources said Amazon’s grocery stores aimed to eventually achieve operating margins north of 20 percent — a figure Bezos mocked at the time. Nevertheless, with the help of robotics, “stores have the potential to achieve up to 20-percent margins on certain categories, and double-digit margins on almost all categories,” according to Ladd.

Amazon’s prototype unveiled Tuesday doesn’t have robots shuttling products from the back room to store shelves to replenish stock, but the 20,000-square-foot store it’s planning to open in Woodland Hills, Calif., will have these robots, Marcotte says.

Amazon made an aggressive move into the grocery market when it purchased the upscale supermarket chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017. The company has also offered its Prime members free two-hour grocery delivery through Whole Foods and its Amazon Fresh service.

But Amazon reportedly does not mean for its standalone supermarket to supplant Whole Foods — and there are currently no plans to bring the “Just Walk Out” technology to the chain.

The company also had to adjust its technology to the fact that grocery shoppers often inspect fruits and veggies before deciding which ones to buy.

“See something you want? Grab it off the shelf and pack your bag or cart as you shop. Change your mind? Put it back, no problem,” Amazon says on a website for the store.

“There’s a lot more interaction that tends to happen” with produce than with a can of soda, said Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology.

“For now, what we are focused on is this concept and see what customers think of it — [and] go from there,” Kumar told the tech news website Recode on a tour of the Seattle store.



https://nypost.com/2020/02/25/...re-with-no-cashiers/

I'm interested to see how this works out. The argument about this not creating jobs seems nonsense. It has the potential to bring costs down, or otherwise provide a benefit to the consumer. Plus, Amazon employees 800,000 part time and full time workers. I think they've done their part in creating jobs.

The trend toward technology is obvious and unstoppable. It's time that a company like Amazon is taking steps to provide a workable process.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how this works.

If the checkout is electronic, as it pretty much has to be to work, how long will it be before someone comes up with a device to defeat it and walk out without paying?

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Originally posted by Sigmanic:
The trend toward technology is obvious and unstoppable. It's time that a company like Amazon is taking steps to provide a workable process.

I recall being opposed by nature to the self checkout concepts at the grocery stores. Why should I have to do this myself?

Now the technology is there that I can do it in less time that I would waiting for the employee to do it. Not that I can do it quicker, but the lines are shorter.

The next evolution seems to be no checkout. You grab stuff off the shelf, and your account somehow gets debited that value. Sort of like the mini bar in your hotel, but hopefully M&Ms are less than $25 a pack!

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Amazon opens full-size grocery store with no cashiers

Didn't Walmart float this idea years ago?

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Originally posted by GWbiker:

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Amazon opens full-size grocery store with no cashiers

Didn't Walmart float this idea years ago?

Walmart pioneered the use of RFID tags for inbound pallets to their stores; truck backs-in, unload, scanning happens automatically once past the threshold. This is just scaled so individual items picked by the consumer on the way out the door is scanned and accounted for.

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Originally posted by zipriderson:
The next evolution seems to be no checkout. You grab stuff off the shelf, and your account somehow gets debited that value. Sort of like the mini bar in your hotel, but hopefully M&Ms are less than $25 a pack!

You haven't been keeping up....there's about 20 Amazon Go convenience stores scattered in various cities. This full-size brick n'mortar is just a scaled-up version.

The people complaining about minimum wage, job-loss and mechanization, are also the same ones advocating immediate technology advancement. So, which one...because tech will eliminate the low-end jobs, like stocking shelves, driving trucks, preparing foods, washing dishes, accounting of items. and about that immigration issue of low-skilled peoples

IIRC correctly, they've been beta testing the technology on a small scale for some time now. I'm pretty sure I've seen video of it in action.

Not sure how I feel personally about the facial recognition / movement tracking / etc. aspect of however it works technically, but they're a private business and so good for them and anyone who wants to shop there.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by zipriderson:

The next evolution seems to be no checkout. You grab stuff off the shelf, and your account somehow gets debited that value. Sort of like the mini bar in your hotel, but hopefully M&Ms are less than $25 a pack!

That's what it is. No scanning. Just walk out.

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Originally posted by corsair:
There's about 20 Amazon Go convienance stores scattered in various cities. This full-size brick n'mortar is just a scaled-up version.

Yes, I went to one in Seattle in September. A lot of sensors in the ceiling. I kept thinking there's no way it's going to get all these items correct. It did and it was impressive.

As someone who's worked in the tech industry for the past 20 years, I will point out the videos I've seen on YouTube demonstrating this process never include one important aspect. When they show how you walk in, grab, and go, they never show a later comparison of what you bought to what you were (or weren't) charged for. I personally would like to see this tested extensively and the results provided for review. Just how accurate is the AI and machine learning behind the process? The answer to that could open a whole new can of worms for both Amazon and consumers. Additionally, with the rapidly growing interest in grocery shopping online and having them delivered the the consumer's home, is what Amazon doing really in front of the grocery sale's curve or behind it?

But make no mistake, whether you like it or not, this is the direction everything is heading. SkyNet anyone???

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Originally posted by bigdeal:Additionally, with the rapidly growing interest in grocery shopping online and having them delivered the the consumer's home, is what Amazon doing really in front of the grocery sale's curve or behind it?

Amazon is doing what?! Isn't the point of online shopping, is to minimize/avoid going into brick n'mortars? Which makes this move all the more curious. If anything, grocery shopping isn't going away BUT, what Amazing is doing pushes right into territory of the bigger operations of Kroger, Albertson's, Aldi, Target, Walmart, Trader Joe's...how do they react? All of them have .com delivery/quick pick-up services as a reaction, do they update their stores now?

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Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:Additionally, with the rapidly growing interest in grocery shopping online and having them delivered the the consumer's home, is what Amazon doing really in front of the grocery sale's curve or behind it?

Amazon is doing what?! Isn't the point of online shopping, is to minimize/avoid going into brick n'mortars? Which makes this move all the more curious. If anything, grocery shopping isn't going away BUT, what Amazing is doing pushes right into territory of the bigger operations of Kroger, Albertson's, Aldi, Target, Walmart, Trader Joe's...how do they react? All of them have .com delivery/quick pick-up services as a reaction, do they update their stores now?

This type of "grab and go" concept has been in place at a few airport concourses around the country for a while now and seems to make good sense in that setting. If I'm headed to a flight, quickly grabbing a drink or food item and not having to stand in a line to pay makes great sense to me. But as people become more an more lazy, where everything needs to be available for purchase from their phone and delivered to their home, I'm somewhat confused about Amazon's direction with this product. Heck, before long I expect companies like Publix and Walmart to further branch out to not only delivering your items, but actually unbagging and putting them away for buyers. It actually does seem to be getting that bad.

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Heck, before long I expect companies like Publix and Walmart to further branch out to not only delivering your items, but actually unbagging and putting them away for buyers. It actually does seem to be getting that bad.

How is that bad, the purchase of consumer goods at a grocery store is significantly labor intensive, you touch the product you buy a minimum of 7 times just from purchase to storage, not to mention actual retrieval for use. Automating this process down to 2 to 3 touches would be significant.

We may see retail grocery shopping stores become things of the past, or very few in the future, everything will be warehoused, your kids don't give a darn to walk through the produce aisle and finger frig all the veggies.

In fact I'd prefer it if Mary the Veggie pervert wasn't touching every piece of merch in that area.

For Example, at the store last week kept running into this Asian woman. It became comical as she had the same process for every purchase, stand there looking at every option, fondle multiple products, cans, boxes, frozen, fresh produce for everything, you couldn't miss it.. aggravating when she was in the way, and concerning that she felt the need to touch everything, several times.

People coughing, sneezing, wiping booger covered hands on carts corona virus!....

Ugh! who needs retail shopping and consumer interface!

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A 10,000- to 20,000-square-foot supermarket typically employs between 60 and 70 workers, according to David Marcotte, senior vice president at Kantar Consulting.

as a former Grocery Store Manager,, this number seems off

How will thieves be stopped? Will there be loss prevention posted at the doors? Will people without a membership card even be allowed into the store? How will they be stopped from entering? A locking turnstile? It’s an interesting concept but there’s a lot of questions.

Too high or too low?

If the lowest paid person in the store gets the Seattle minimum wage of $16, thats a ton of money on salaries.

JB

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Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

A 10,000- to 20,000-square-foot supermarket typically employs between 60 and 70 workers, according to David Marcotte, senior vice president at Kantar Consulting.

as a former Grocery Store Manager,, this number seems off

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
How will thieves be stopped? Will there be loss prevention posted at the doors? Will people without a membership card even be allowed into the store? How will they be stopped from entering? A locking turnstile? It’s an interesting concept but there’s a lot of questions.

Also, will a robot wear the little red apron and bag groceries? Can the robot pick up a egg or tomato without crushing it? If the robots software gets a virus and they go berzerkers, will we be in the middle of a full on mechanical food fight? I personally prefer to shop for myself thank you. I like seeing people doing a good job at a Grocery Store. I like being out there among my fellow human beings thank you. I dont want some rich prick turning my world upside down. I hope Amazon fails big time at some of their rediculous ventures. I suppose next all our foods will come from china too. Who gets the job of being a robot oiler, another robot?

There's a Go store near my office. To access the store you need to scan your personal QR code from the Go app. The gate opens and you get access to the goods. There's an employee at the gates, more like turnstiles, to watch/help. The place is full of cameras that track your movements and what you pick up and don't replace on the shelves. Once you have your stuff you exit through the exit gate. I can be in and out with a salad or sandwich in 30 seconds and the app tells you how long you spent inside the store. The receipt is emailed within 20 minutes. I've never been wrongly charged. I got a salad without dressing once and Amazon comped the item after I contacted them through the app. I'm afraid I'll forget I'm not at Amazon Go and start walking out of regular stores without paying one day. Of course San Francisco is doing it's best to fuck up the experience saying it discriminates against people who don't have credit cards or smart phones. I can see a grocery model working well with the eye in the sky capturing charges.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Heck, before long I expect companies like Publix and Walmart to further branch out to not only delivering your items, but actually unbagging and putting them away for buyers. It actually does seem to be getting that bad.

How is that bad, the purchase of consumer goods at a grocery store is significantly labor intensive, you touch the product you buy a minimum of 7 times just from purchase to storage, not to mention actual retrieval for use. Automating this process down to 2 to 3 touches would be significant.

We may see retail grocery shopping stores become things of the past, or very few in the future, everything will be warehoused, your kids don't give a darn to walk through the produce aisle and finger frig all the veggies.

In fact I'd prefer it if Mary the Veggie pervert wasn't touching every piece of merch in that area.

For Example, at the store last week kept running into this Asian woman. It became comical as she had the same process for every purchase, stand there looking at every option, fondle multiple products, cans, boxes, frozen, fresh produce for everything, you couldn't miss it.. aggravating when she was in the way, and concerning that she felt the need to touch everything, several times.

People coughing, sneezing, wiping booger covered hands on carts corona virus!....

Ugh! who needs retail shopping and consumer interface!

Look, I'm not going to argue or debate that retail grocery shopping is headed the way of the DoDo. What I'm concerned about, especially given I work in tech every day, is the lack of personal interaction skills we already see today in our culture. As we separate more and more from the physical world around us, retreating in a cyber world where personal interaction is all but eliminated, I fear people will eventually lose their ability to deal civilly with one another. Heck, I automate a number of things in my life out of efficiency and convenience, but I think everyone needs to make it a point to get out and interact with each other on a regular basis.